Grid feeder

ABSTRACT

A grid feeder device for storage battery grids or plates comprises a pivotally oscillating bellcrank-like member and associated grid stop means and grid guiding means which, with pickup disks, are interposed between input and output conveyors. The input conveyor consists of a pair of continuously orbiting endless flexible conveying elements or chains upon which a plurality of grids are supported in substantially vertical orientation, the continuous movement of the conveying elements tending to maintain such grids closely packed together and for urging the leading or forward several of the grids onto a support edge of the oscillating member when the latter is in its lower and rearwardmost position and against an abutment thereon. The support edge of the oscillating member periodically moves forwardly and upwardly carrying the several grids therewith and moving the forwardmost one of the grids into the path of a tooth on the rotating pickup disk, which rotates in synchronism with the oscillating member. The grid stop means limit the forward movement of the forwardmost grid so that only that grid is picked up by the tooth on the rotating pickup disk. As the forwardmost grid is lifted from the support edge of the oscillating member by the rotating pickup disk, the grid guiding means urges same firmly against the surface of the pickup disk above the tooth thereon and the support edge of the oscillating member returns downwardly and rearwardly to its original position for receiving an additional grid or grids from the input conveyor to repeat the above mentioned cycle of operation. In the meantime, the rotating disk transfers the aforementioned forwardmost grid to the output conveyor, the speed of the output conveyor being adjusted with respect to the speed of the rotating disk and oscillating member so that grids will be placed on the output conveyor in a horizontal and close spaced condition to allow further operations to be carried out thereon, such as a grid pasting operation.

United States Van Linder et al.

atent 1 GRID FEEDER [75] Inventors: Ronald C. Van Linder, Watervliet;

Basil R. Van Linder, Kalamazoo, both of Mich.

[73] Assignee: Kalamazoo Manufacturing Company, Kalamazoo, Mich.

[22] Filed: May 22, 1972 [211 Appl. No.: 255,755

Related US. Application Data [63] Continuation-in-part of Ser. No.125,622, March 18,

Primary ExaminerEdward A. Sroka Attorney, Agent, or Firm-Woodhams,Blanchard and Flynn 57 ABSTRACT A grid feeder device for storage batterygrids or plates comprises a pivotally oscillating bellcrank-like memberand associated grid stop means and grid guiding means which, with pickupdisks, are interposed between input and output conveyors. The input con-[451 Mar. 26, 1974 veyor consists of a pair of continuously orbitingendless flexible conveying elements .or chains upon which a plurality ofgrids are supported in substantially vertical orientation, thecontinuous movement of the conveying elements tending to maintain suchgrids closely packed together and for urging the leading or forwardseveral of the grids onto a support edge of the oscillating member whenthe latter is in its lower and rearwardmost position and against anabutment thereon. The support edge of the oscillating memberperiodically moves forwardly and upwardly carrying the several gridstherewith and moving the forwardmost one of the grids into the path of atooth on the rotating pickup disk, which rotates in synchronism with the0scillating member. The grid stop means limit the forward movement ofthe forwardmost grid so that only that grid is picked up by the tooth onthe rotating pickup disk. As the forwardmost grid is lifted from thesupport edge of the oscillating member by the rotating pickup disk, thegrid guiding means urges same firmly against the surface of the pickupdisk above the tooth thereon and the support edge of the oscillatingmember returns downwardly and rearwardly to its original position forreceiving an additional grid or grids from the input conveyor to repeatthe above mentioned cycle of operation. In the meantime, the rotatingdisk transfers'the aforementioned forwardmost grid to the outputconveyor, the speed of the output conveyor being adjusted with respectto the speed of the rotating disk and oscillating member so that gridswill be placed on the output conveyor in a horizontal and close spacedcondition to allow further operations to be carried out thereon, such asa grid pasting operation.

27 Claims, 22 Drawing Figures can) FEEDER CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATEDAPPLICATION This application is a continuation-in-part of copendingapplication Ser. No. 125,622 filed Mar. 18, i971 and entitled GRIDFEEDER.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION This invention relates to a grid feeder and moreparticularly relates to a grid feeder device having an oscillatingmember interposed between an input conveyor and a pick up disk'.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The present invention arose as a solution toa vexing problem in the handling of grids for storage batteries and moreparticularly in the feeding thereof through a suitable processingmachine such as a grid pasting machine, and therefore is discussedhereafter in terms thereof. However, it is contemplated that the presentinvention is applicable to mechanisms for feeding pasted grids or platesto brushes and slitters and so forth and is also applicableto feeding ofother platelike articles, particularly those having sidewardly extendingears thereon. Conventionally, grids to be pasted are placed upon ahorizontal conveyor belt which moves past a grid pasting station.Because it is necessary to a successful pasting operation that the fullsurface of one side of the grid be exposed to the pasting station,successive grids must not overlie each other in whole or in part. Also,little or no space must be left between the grids on the belt conveyorlest paste from the pasting station be applied to the face of the beltitself, since such would necessitate shutting down of the machine toclean the belt. Since the belt is normally run continuously at a fixedspeed, grids must be placed thereon in a properly timed sequence toavoid either overlapping of grids or excessive spacing therebetween.

One prior method of so placing grids on the belt conveyor associatedwith a pasting machine has been to provide one or more rotatable coaxialpickup disks located adjacent the head of the belt conveyor and toprovide an input conveyor consisting of a pair of spaced, continuouslymoving chains associated therewith in a manner that the chainscontinuously urge and pack a horizontal stack of vertical grids againstthe peripheries of the disks so that teeth on the disks pick up gridsfrom the stack and place same upon the belt conveyor. However, it hasbeen found that the pickup disks will not reliably pick up oneand onlyone grid at a time from the stack. More particularly, if the teeth onthe disks are made large enough to reliably pick up a grid they willoften pick up more than one grid at a time which results in a completeor partial overlapping of grids on the pasting machine conveyor belt andthus an improper pasting of at least one of those grids. On the otherhand if the teeth on the disks are made sufficiently small that theywill reliably pick up no more than one grid from the stack, they willoften fail to pick up any grid, which results in a relatively large openspace on the belt between a pair of successive grids and thus results'inan inadvertent application of paste to the belt. It is believed that theabove mentioned difficulty in proper transfer of single grids from theinput conveyor to the toothed disks may result from minor surfaceimperfections or roughness on the opposed faces of the grids which dueto the continuous urging thereof together by the input chain conveyorsometimes causes two or more of the grids to stick together so that thetoothed disks may pick up none or may pick up several of the gridsrather than the desired one grid at a time.

In response to such problems there has been developed in accordance withthe present invention a transfer structure hereinafter described indetail which assures a reliable transfer of one grid at a time from theinput chain conveyor to the toothed pickup disk set and thus insuresthat grids will be placed upon the output belt conveyor in proper closespaced relationship and without overlapping.

Accordingly, the objects of this invention include provision of:

I. A grid feeder device which assures that articles such as grids forstorage batteries will be placed one at a time in a continuous evenlytimed sequence on an output member. 7

2. A grid feeder device, as aforesaid, which will place articles on acontinuously moving output conveyor with a predetermined regular spacingand no overlapping.

3. A grid feeder device, as aforesaid, in which transfer means areprovided capable of reliably transferring one and only one article at atime from a close spaced or compressed stack thereof to rotating toothedpickup disks.

4. A grid feeder device, as aforesaid, in which the transfer means willreliably transfer articles one at a time from a stack thereof to toothedpickup disks despite continuously applied urging of the articles in thestack together and toward the pickup disks and despite the tendency ofsuch articles to stick together in groups of two or more.

5. A grid feeder device, as aforesaid, which is particularly adapted tofeeding of battery grids to a grid pasting machine but which is alsoreadily adaptable to handling of other articles of a more or lesssimilar nature for feeding same to a desired location.

6. A grid feeder device, as aforesaid, in which the transfer meansincludes an oscillating member interposed between the input conveyor andtoothed rotating diskswhich oscillates in synchronism with rotation ofthe disks and also includes guide means for assisting in assuringtransfer of one and only one article at a time.

7. A grid feeder device, as aforesaid, which is adaptable totransferring articles reliably in fixed-size groups other than one andwhich, for example, may be adapted to transfer articles reliably two ata time, three at a time, etc., if desired.

8. A grid feeder device, as aforesaid, which is of simple and reliableconstruction, is capable of economical manufacture and of reliableservice for long periods of time and which is readily serviceable. Otherobjects and purposes of this invention will be apparent to personsacquainted with apparatus of this general type upon reading thefollowing specification and inspecting the accompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 2 is a pictorial view taken fromthe leftward end of the device of FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a three-quarter, top pictorial view of the central portion ofthe device of FIG. 1.

FIG. 4 is an enlarged, fragmentary, cross-sectional view substantiallytaken along the line IV-IV of FIG. 2 and showing the oscillating memberin its lower, rightward limiting position.

FIG. 5 is a view similar to FIG. 4 and showing the oscillating member inits upper, rightward limiting position.

FIG. 6 is a fragmentary sectional view substantially taken along theline VIVI of FIG. 5.

FIG. 7 is a fragmentary sectional view substantially taken along theline VIIVII of FIG. 5.

FIG. 8 is an enlarged fragment of FIG. 5 and showing a tooth on thetoothed disk in a position intermediate that of FIGS. 4 and 5.

FIG. 9 is a view similar to FIG. 1 and disclosing a modification.

FIG. 10 is a fragmentary, partially broken side elevational view of amodified grid feeder device.

FIG. 11 is a sectional view substantially taken on the line XI-XI ofFIG. 10.

FIG. 12 is a partially broken, side elevational view of a furthermodified grid feeder device according to the present invention.

FIG. 13 is an enlarged fragmentary view of a portion of the apparatus ofFIG. 12.

FIG. 14 is a fragmentary top elevational view of a portion of theapparatus of FIG. 13.

FIG. 15 is a sectional view substantially taken on the line XVXV of FIG.13.

FIGS. l6, l7 and 18 are fragmentary sectional views each takensubstantially on line XVIXVI of FIG. 15 and showing the apparatus insucceeding and different positions of operation.

FIG. 19 is a fragmentary top elevational view of a portion of the outputend of the apparatus of FIG. 12.

FIGS. 20 through 22 are fragmentary sectional views substantially takenon line XX-XX in FIG. 19 and showing a sequence of operative steps.

Certain terminology will be used in the following description forconvenience in reference only and will not be limiting. The words up",down, right and left" will designate directions in the drawings to whichreference is made. The words forwardly" and rear wardly will refer tothe direction of material flow through the device, forwardly being thenormal flow direction. The words in and out" will refer to directionstoward and away from, respectively, the geometric center of the deviceand designated parts thereof. Such terminology will include derivativesand words of similar import.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The objects and purposes of the invention aremet by providing a grid feeder device for storage battery grids orplates comprising a pivotally oscillating bellcranklike member andassociated grid stop means and grid guiding means which, with pickupdisks, are interposed between input and output conveyors. The inputconveyor consists of a pair of continuously orbiting endless flexibleconveying elements or chains upon which a plurality of grids aresupported in substantially vertical orientation, the continuous movementof the conveying elements tending to maintain such grids closely packedtogether and for urging the leading or forward several of the grids ontoa support edge of the oscillating member when the latter is in its lowerand rearwardmost position and against an abutment thereon. The supportedge of the oscillating member periodically moves forwardly and upwardlycarrying the several grids therewith and moving the forwardmost one ofthe grids into the path of a tooth on the rotating pickup disk, whichrotates in synchronism with the oscillation of the oscillating member.The grid stop means limit the forward movement of the forwardmost gridso that only that grid is picked up by the tooth on the rotating pickupdisk. As the forwardmost grid is lifted from the support edge of theoscillating member by the rotating pickup disk, the grid guiding meansurges same firmly against the surface of the pickup disk above the tooththereon and the support edge of the oscillating member returnsdownwardly and rearwardly to its original position for receiving anadditional grid or grids from the input conveyor to repeat the abovementioned cycle of operation. In the meantime, the rotating disktransfers the aforementioned forwardmost grid to the output conveyor,the speed of the output conveyor being adjusted with respect to thespeed of the rotating disk and oscillating member so that grids will beplaced on the output conveyor in a horizontal and close spaced conditionto allow further operations to be carried out thereon, such as a gridpasting operation.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION The device 10 (FIG. 1) embodying the invention maybe considered to consist of three structurally and functionallyinterconnected sections, a leftward or input section 11, a central ortransfer section 12 and a rightward or output section 13. The device 10comprises a frame structure 16 comprising rightward and leftwardsidewalls 17 and 18, respectively, as seen in FIG. 2.

The input section 11 is arranged for presenting a plurality of articles21, which in the preferred embodiment of the invention are batterygrids, in horizontally stacked relation to the transfer section 12.Although the present invention was developed in connection with suchbattery grids, it is contemplated that other generally similar articlesmay be handled by the device 10 either in the condition disclosed orwith relatively minor modifications.

The battery grids 21 are conventional but will be briefly described forpurposes of more clearly illustrating the invention. The grids 21 aresubstantially planar though same may have an intentional surface pattern'(not shown) and/or any of a variety of types of surface imperfectionsor roughness tending to make same stick together when packed into astacked relationship as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2. The device 10 of thepresent invention is capable of handling such grids despite any suchsurface roughness or the like resulting in a tendency of the stackedgrids to stick together and, of course, will also be capable of handlingsmooth faced and nonadherent grids as well. The grids 21 aresubstantially rectangular in form and are provided adjacent the top edgethereof, as seen in FIG. 2, with rightward and leftwardly extending earsor lugs, one of which is indicated at 22.

The input section 11 comprises an endless conveyor which in the presentembodiment inlcudes a pair of elongated endless flexible elements suchas chains 24 and 25. The chains are each supported by a plurality, herethree, of sprockets 26 mounted for rotation on the corresponding ones ofthe sidewalls 17 and 18 by any convenient means, shown for example at 27and 28. The three sprockets 26 are located at respective apices of animaginary triangle (not shown) so that the chains 24 and 25 passingthereover describe substantially triangular orbits. Thus, each of thechains has at a given instant an upper substantially horizontal reach 29and a pair of lower reaches extending downwardly substantially towardthe intermediate bearing support 28. The upper surface of the upperreach 29 extends slightly above the adjacent top edge 31 of the adjacentone of the frame structure sidewalls 17 and 18 for supporting theadjacent ears 22 of the grids 21 thereon, the remaining or intermediateportion of the grids depending loosely between the adjacent chains 24and 25 and the adjacent portions of the frame structure sidewalls 17 and18. 1

The chains 24 and 25 are rotatably driven with the upper reaches 29thereof moving rightwardly as seen in FIG. 1 and thus forwardly in thedirection of the arrow A. In the normal operation of the device 10, ahorizontal stack of grids 21, which are held in a substantially verticalorientation (here by gravity) are placed between the chains 24 and 25with the ears 22 thereof supported by such chains, the forward movementof the chains tending to move the grids 21 forwardly toward the transfersection 12 and to pack or compress same snugly together. The chains 24and 25 are rotatably driven at a preselected fixed speed by anyconvenient and conventional means (not shown).

The output section 13 comprises an output conveyor surface 33 (FIGS.1-3) which is axially aligned with the input section 11 and transfersection 12 and travels rightwardly or forwardly in .thedirection of thearrow B (FIG. 1) in a preferably substantially horizontal plane.Although the upper surface 33 and the upper reaches 29 of the chains 24have been indicated to be substantially horizontal, it is fullycontemplated that same may be inclined with respect to the horizontalplane and/or with-respect to each other. The conveyor surface 33preferably passes beneath and adjacent a suitable work station of anydesired type for conducting a work operation on articles 21 supported ona conveyor surface 33 and passing therebeneath. In the particularembodiment shown, where the articles 21 are for purposes ofillustration, battery grids, the work station 35 may be a grid pastingstation of a conventional type arranged for applying paste to the grids21 as they pass therebeneath.

The conveyor surface 33 preferably comprises the upper reach of anendless belt conveyor, generally indicated at 36, which extendsrightwardly past the work station 35 from a point in the region of thetransfer section 12, as generally indicated at 38 (FIG. 1) in brokenlines. The belt conveyor 36 is rotatably driven from any convenient andconventional power source (not shown) at a fixed speed synchronized, ashereinafter described, with respect to the speed of the upper reaches 29of input conveyor chains 24 and 25. In the particular embodiment shown,wherein the reaches 29 and outputconveyor surface 33 are horizontal, thelatter is preferably elevated somewhat above the former.

The transfer section 12 includes a pair of pickup disks 40 and 41 (FIGS.1-5) located adjacent the sidewalls 17 and 18, respectively, andcoaxially mounted on and for rotation with a shaft 42, The ends of theshaft 42 are mounted on the sidewalls 17 and 18 for rotation withrespect thereto and by suitable and conventional bearings (not shown). Asprocket, indicated in broken lines at 43 in FIG. 1, is located near themidpoint of the shaft 42 and secured thereto for rotation therewith. Thesprocket 43 is driven through a chain 44 by any convenient rotativedrive means such as an electric motor (not shown), which is preferablysynchronized with the drive for the belt conveyor 36 and conveyor chains24 and 25 in a manner hereinafter described.

The pickup disks and 41 carry teeth 46, four teeth per disk in theparticular embodiment shown. However, a fewer number, such as two or agreater number, may be provided as desired and depending on the natureof the articles 21 handled. The same number of teeth are provided oneach of the disks 40 and 41. The teeth 46 are evenlycircumferentiallyspaced around the perimeter of the pickup disks 40 and41. The disks 40 and 41 are circumferentially arranged on the shaft 42in such' a way that the leading edges 47 (FIG. 4) of the teeth 46 on thedisk 40 are aligned, in parallelism with the shaft 42, with the leadingedges 47 of corresponding teeth 46 on the disk 41. Thus, the leadingedges 47 of corresponding teeth 46 on the disks 40 and 41 willsimultaneously pass through the plane defined by the upper edge of thehorizontal reaches 29 of the chains 24 and25.

The disks 40 and 41 are driven, as seen in FIG. 1, in a clockwisedirection, as indicated by the arrow C.

The leading edges 47 of the teeth 46 are preferably angled forwardly tosome extent, for example between an angle of 0 and 35, so that the outerperipheral end of the leading edge 47 preceeds the inner end of theleading edge 47 during rotation of the disks. The trailing edge 48 ofeach of the teeth 46 preferably extends,

. more or less smoothly, into the following peripheral portion of thecorresponding disk. The height of the teeth 46, beyond the periphery ofthe disk and at the leading edge 47, is at least as great as thethickness of the articles or grids 21 and preferably exceeds same. Thus,inthe particular embodiment shown, the height of the teeth 46approximates the thickness of two of such grids 21. However, it will benoted that where it is intended that the disks pick up more than onearticle at a time, that the height of the teeth 46 should at least beequal to and preferably exceed the total thickness of the quantity ofarticles to be picked up at one time.

Thus, the pick up disks 40 and 41 in cooperation with remaining portionsof the transfer section 12 hereinafter described, are adapted to pick uparticles 21 from the vicinity of the rightward ends of the upper reaches29 of the chains 24 and 25 by contact of the leading edges 47 with theears 22 of the articles 21, moving such articles upwardly and forwardlyand then allowing same to move downwardly onto the output conveyorsurface 33.

A pair of guide rods 51 are supported by any convenient fixed means (notshown) below and rearwardly of the shaft 42 and extend upwardly past therear face of the shaft, thereafter curving fowardly thereover to a pointnear the rearward end of the endless belt conveyor 36. The guide rods 51substantially parallel the rearward reach of the drive chain 44 as wellas the portion thereof contacting the sprocket 43 on the shaft 42 butare spaced outwardly from the shaft 42 somewhat therebeyond, though at adistance less than that of the teeth 46 on the pick up disks 40 and 41.Thus, the guide rods 51 slidably support the trailing or bottom edge ofarticles or grids 21 supported on the disks 40 and 41 as same are movedtoward the output conveyor 36, preventing same from contacting the shaft42 or drive chain 44 and causing same to assume a horizontal orsubstantially horizontal position prior to coming to rest upon theoutput conveyor surface 33.

Turning now to a portion of the transfer section 12 which comprises aprimary aspect of the present invention, there is provided oscillatingmeans which, in the particular embodiment shown, comprise a pair ofscillating members 56 (FIGS. 4 through 8). The oscillating members 56are disposed between the disks 40 and 41, one such oscillating memberbeing disposed closely adjacent each such disk.

The oscillating members 56 are preferably mirror images of each otherand a description of one will thus suffice for both. Thus, as seen inFIG. 4, the oscillating member 56 is of generally L-shaped configurationhaving a preferably substantially flat bottom edge 58, and a rearwardedge 59 which is substantially upstanding and which has a forwardlysloped upper portion 60. The oscillating member 56 further has arelatively short top or support edge 62 adjoining the sloped portion 60and which is terminated at its forward end by an upstanding tab 63. Thetab 63 has a rearwardly facing abutment edge 64. With the oscillatingmember 56 in its downwardmost or rearwardmost position shown in FIG. 4,the support edge 62 and abutment edge 64 are respectively substantiallyhorizontal and vertical. The forward edge 66 of the oscillating member56 is concavely curved through the majority of its length, extendingfrom the tab 63 downwardly and then forwardly, on a curve substantiallyparalleling the periphery of the adjacent one of the pickup disks 40 and41, to a convexly curved forward end 67 which adjoins the bottom edge58. Thus, the oscillating member 56 is, in the particular embodimentshown, substantially L- shaped having a forwardly extending leg 69hereinafter referred to as the drive leg, and upwardly extending leg 70hereinafter referred to as the support leg.

Each of the oscillating members 56 is pivotally supported for movementin its own plane and hence in parallelism with the plane of rotation ofthe disks 40 and 41 by a suitable stub shaft 72 (FIGS. 4 and 7). Thestub shaft 72 is fixedly supported on a portion 73 (FIG. 7)

of the corresponding one of the sidewalls 17 and 18, such portion 73comprising a substantially upstanding plate spaced outwardly of theplane of the adjacent disk, spaced inwardly somewhat from the remainderof the corresponding one of the sidewalls 17 and 18 and rigidly fixed tothe latter by a suitable connecting portion 74 (FIG. 6). A furtherupstanding plate 76 is spaced inwardly from and parallel to each plate73 and is substantially coplanar with the adjacent oscillating member56. The plates 73 and 76 are joined by a rectangular section,longitudinally extending member 77 (FIGS. 4 and 7) forming an upwardlyfacing groove on which the corresponding one of the chains 24 and 25 isslidably carried. The forward ends of the rectangular cross-sectionmembers 77 terminate at a point spaced leftwardly from the oscillatingmembers 56 and from the rightward ends of the upper reaches of thechains 24 and 25.

Each stub shaft 72 is located near the lower rearward corner of thecorresponding oscillating member 56 constituted by the juncture of theedges 58 and 59 thereof. Thus, pivoting of the oscillating member 56about the axis of the stub shaft 72 causes a corresponding arcuatemovement of the drive leg 69 and support leg thereof. Thus, the driveleg 69 follows a curved but substantially vertical path whereas thesupport leg 70 including the support edge 62 and abutment edge 64, movesthrough an arcuate path from its position in FIG. 4 both upwardly andforwardly to its position of FIG. 5.

A cam shaft 79 is fixedly supported for rotation with respect to thesidewalls 17 and 18 by means of bearings, one of which is shown at 80(FIG. 7), secured to the plate 73 by any convenient means such as screws81. The cam shaft 79 extends below and adjacent the forward end 67 ofthe oscillating member 56 and has an eccentric or cam surface 82 locatedbeneath each of the oscillating members 56.

Each of the oscillating members 56 carries a stub shaft 83 upon which issupported a rotatable roller 84 which rolls on the cam surface 82whereby, upon rotation of the cam shaft 79, the forward end 67 of theoscillating member 56 is caused to rise and fall to an extent determinedby the eccentricity and diameter of the cam surface 82.

A spring 86 (FIG. 4) which in the particular embodiment shown is acoiled tension spring, is secured to the oscillatingmember 56 at a pointspaced somewhat to the rear of the roller 84 and extends downwardlytherefrom to a point of securement (not shown) fixed with respect to theframe structure 16 of the device 10 for resiliently holding the roller84 against the cam surface 82.

In the particular embodiment shown, the eccentricity and diameter of thecam surface 82 is arranged so that when the cam surface 82 is at itsmaximum height, as shown in FIG. 4, the oscillating member 56 is in itsfully counterclockwise position, the support surface 62 is substantiallyhorizontal and is substantially in the plane of the top of the upperreaches 29 of the chains 24 and 25 and theabutment surface 64 is spacedrearwardly from the path of the teeth 46 on the disks 40 and 41. On theother hand, when the cam surface 82 is at its lowermost point, whereatthe position of rotation of the shaft 79 is from that shown in FIG. 4,and as shown in FIG. 5, the oscillating member 56 is in its fullyclockwise position wherein the support surface 62 is spaced somewhatabove the plane of the top of the upper reaches 29 of the chains 24 and25, is sloped slightly forwardly and overlaps the path of the leadingedges 47 of the teeth 46 on the disks 40 and 41 and wherein the abutmentsurface 64 lies forwardly of the adjacent path of the teeth 46, the tab63 thus overlying the disks 40 and 41.

The cam shaft 79 is driven in synchronism with the shaft 42 by anyconvenient and conventional means as indicated by the broken line 78 ofFIG. 4.

Guide-stop assemblies 88 and 89 (FIGS. 2-7) are provided on both sidesof the device 10, outward of and adjacent the forward ends of the chains24 and 25, respectively. The assemblies 88 and 89 are preferably mirrorimages of each other and hence a description of one will suffice forboth.

Considering then the'guide-stop assembly 89, same includes a base block91 (FIG. 7) which is fixed to the plate 73 below the chain 25 by screws92 and extends horizontally outwardly from the plate 73. The block 91supports a stop unit 94 (FIGS. 6 and 7). The stop unit 94 includes afixed block 95 secured atop the base block 91 by any convenient meanssuch as welding and provided with a suitable bore (not shown)therethrough for receiving an adjustment screw 96 which extendsforwardly therethrough. A generally Z-shaped stop member 97 comprises acentral and forwardly extending portion 98, a screw receiving portion 99located at the rearward end of the central portion 98 and a stop block101 located at the forward end of the central portion 98.

The screw receiving portion 99 extends laterally outwardly from thecentral portion 97, away from the plate 73, and is provided with athreaded opening (not shown) for receiving the screw 96. The screwreceiving portion 99 is located forwardly of the fixed block 95, itsspacing therefrom being determined by rotation of the screw 96. The stopmember 97 is supported by the screw 96 and also on the upper edge ofplate 73 as hereinafter discussed and is prevented from rotation aboutthe longitudinal axis of the central portion 98 by contact with theupper face of base block 91.

The stop block 101 extends laterally inwardly from the central portion98 above the forward portion of the plate 73 and into close spacedadjacency where the laterally outer face of the pickup disk 41 adjacentthe periphery thereof. The stop block 101 preferably rides along the topof the plate 73 in sliding supported relation thereon, the stop block101 being fixed to an elevated forward end portion of the centralportion 98. Thus, rotation of the screw 96 will, through the resul tantforward or rearward motion of the screw receiving portion 99 and centralportion 98 of the stop member 97, cause forward and rearward motion ofthe stop block 101 along the top of the plate 73.

The stop block 101 has a rearwardly extending, preferably vertical stopface 102 adjacent the laterally inner end thereof, which lies closelyadjacent the periphery of the disk 41. Upon proper adjustment of thescrew 96, the stop block 101 is normally positioned, as seen in FIG. 8,at a distance forwardly of the path of the outer extremity of leadingface 47 of the tooth 46 on the adjacent pickup disk 41, which distanceis slightly greater than half the width of the article 21 orrearwardmost of several articles 21 to be picked up at one time by thepick-up disks. Thus, the rearwardly facing stop face 102 is normallypositioned intermediate the outer and inner ends of the leading toothedge 47 when the corresponding tooth 46 is in its position of FIG. 8,that is, in a position adjacent the upper edge 29 of the input conveyorchains 24 and 25. Since the stop face 102 is positionedlaterally veryclosely adjacent the disk 41, it is in the path of the ears 22 of thearticle 21 so that the articles 21 can be moved no farther forwardlythan the stop face 102 until same are picked up by the teeth 46 on thepickup disks 40 and 41 and moved upwardly beyond the stop block 101. Thestop face 102 extends upwardly beyond the plane of the top face of theupper reaches of the chains 24 and 25 by a distance approximating theheight of the ears 22 on the articles 21, which in the presentembodiment is very small fraction of the radius of the pickup disks 40and 41.

The guide-stop assemblies 88 and 89 each further in clude a guide unit,the guide unit associated with the guide-stop assembly 89 beingindicated at 105. The guide unit 105 includes a preferably substantiallyrectilinear support bar 107 which is fixed to and extends upwardly fromthe base block 91, the top of the support bar 107 being, in theparticular embodiment shown, located above the plate 73 in spacedrelationship thereto and also above the shaft 42.

A guide roller support 109 (FIGS. 4, 6 and 7) includes a pin 110 whichis rotatably and slidably located within a hole (not shown) whichextends laterally through the support bar 107 adjacent the upper endthereof. A set screw 111 threadedly engages a suitable opening (notshown) in the upper end of the support bar 107 for engaging theperiphery of the pin 110 for holding same in a fixed position ofadjustment. An arm 112 extends slidably through a diametral opening 113in the pin 110. The opening 113 is located adjacent the rightward (asseen in FIG. 7) end of the pin 110 approximately in alignment with thepickup disk 41. A set screw 114 threadedly engages an axial opening inthe rightward (FIG. 7) end of the pin 110 for engaging the opposed faceof the arm 112 so as to hold same in fixed location with respect to thepin 110. The arm 112 extends forwardly and downwardly from the pin 110,terminating above the oscillating member 56 and adjacent the orbit ofthe teeth 46 on the pickup disk 41 as seen in FIG. 4. The forward end ofthe arm 112 supports a laterally inwardly extending stub shaft 115 uponwhich is rotatably mounted a guide roller 117.

The guide roller 117 is located laterally inwardly of the pickup disk 41and in close spaced relationship therewith. A portion of the peripheryof the roller overlaps the orbit of the outer edges of the teeth 46. Thebottom of the roller 117 lies in close spaced relationship above thearticles 21 for urging the one (or several) of the articles 21 picked upat a given time by a tooth 46 fully onto the leading edge 47 of suchtooth and against the adjacent leading peripheral portion of the wheel41 (FIG. 8) as the ear 22 of such article 21 is raised by the rotationof the pickup disk 41 above the stop face 102.

A guide leaf support 123 (FIGS. 4, 6 and 7) includes a pin 125 whichparallels the pin 110 and is located therebelow. The pin 125 extendsrotatably and slidably through a suitable opening (not shown) in theupstanding support bar 107 and is secured fixedly thereto in a desiredposition of adjustment by a set screw 126 which extends forwardlythrough a suitable threaded opening (not shown) in the rearward face ofthe support bar 107 into locking contact with the opposed periphery ofthe pin 125.

The pin 125 extends laterally inwardly beyond the guide roller 117. Aleaf spring 127 is secured at its rearward end to the underside of thepin 125 by any convenient means such as screws 128. The leaf spring 127comprises a rearward end portion 129 (FIG. 4) which is, in theparticular embodiment shown, substantially flat and extends forwardlyfrom the pin 125 at a shallow upward angle. The intermediate portion 131of the spring 127 extends upwardly and forwardly from the rearwardportion 129 and is smoothly curved approximately about the axis of theshaft 42, lying at a distance therefrom approximately equal to butslightly greater than the radius of the tip of the teeth 46. The forwardend or tip portion 132 of the spring 127 is preferably upwardly curvedby a small amount.

When properly positioned as shown in FIG. 4, the curved portion 131 ofthe leaf spring contacts the upper edge of the one or ones of thearticles 21 supported on the adjacent tooth of the pickup disk 41 andurges same into firm contact with the one of the teeth 46 supportingsame, at least until the article 21 has moved to a positionsubstantially above the shaft 42, for the purpose of preventing thearticle or articles from being dislodged from such tooth 46.

OPERATlON Although the operation of the device described above has beensubstantially indicated above, same will now be summarized to assure aclear understanding of the invention.

Preparatory to operating the device 10, the guidestop assemblies 88 and89 are, if necessary, adjusted. More particularly, the screw 96 may berotated to shift the stop member 97 forwardly or rearwardly as requiredto properly position the stop face 102 with respect to the orbit of theleading tooth edges 47 of the pickup disks 40 and 41. When so properlypositioned, the stop face 102 is located as shown in FIG. 8 (where, forexample, one article 21 is to be picked up at a time). Thus, as shown inFIG. 8, the stop face 102 is spaced rearwardly from the peripheralportion 118 of the pickup disk 41 and is spaced forwardly of the freeend of the leading edge 47 by a distance corresponding to somewhat morethan one-half the thickness of the article 21 but less than the entirethickness thereof. This way, the leading edge 47 can contact and pick uponly one such article 21 at a time, that being the forwardmost one 21Athereof. The leading edge 47 thus cannot contact and pick up theadjacent article 21B.

During this adjustment of the stop member 97, the bottom face of thestop block 101 rides smoothly along the horizontal upper surface of theplate 73, the stop block 101 thus retaining a constant height oraltitude during the adjustment process.

To properly position the guide roller 117, the set screw 111 may beloosened and the pin 110 rotatably and/or axially adjusted to positionthe guide roller 117 so that it is located preferably slightly inwardlyof the corresponding and adjacent pickup disk 41. The set screw 114 maybe loosened to allow positioning of the roller 117 at a proper radialdistance from the pin 110. When proper adjustment is achieved, the setscrews 111 and 114 are retightened to hold the roller 117 in fixedposition. As a result of the foregoing adjustment, the roller 117 isproperly located in a position just spaced above the highest position ofthe top of the articles 21 when the latter are supported on the supportedge 62 of the oscillating member 56 as shown in FIG. 5. Further, thecorrect position of the roller 117 places the forwardmost portion of itsperiphery in overlapping relationship with the orbit of the outer edgeof the teeth 46 on the pickup disk 41. When so positioned, the roller117 will contact an article (or articles) 21 picked up by a tooth 46just after such article has left the oscillating member 56 and will urgesuch article inwardly along the leading edge 47 of the tooth into firmcontact with the adjacent peripheral portion 118 of the pickup disk,thus causing the article to shift from a position on the tooth where itis only partially supported thereby to a position where it is mostfirmly supported by the tooth.

The guide leaf 127 is adjusted and positioned by loosening of the setscrew 126 to allow rotation and axial shifting of the pin 125. Whenproperly positioned the leaf spring 127 is spaced laterally inwardlyfrom the adjacent disk 41 as shown in H6. 7 and the curved portion 131thereof lies substantially on a constant radius from the axis of theshaft 42 as illustrated in P10. 4 and at a location spaced slightlyoutwardly from the path of the outer peripheral edgeof the teeth 46 soas to prevent articles 21 supported by the teeth, during the upwardmovement thereof from the oscillating member 56, from becomingdisengaged from such teeth.

With the above adjustments made, a plurality of articles 21, such asstorage battery grids, may be placed on the input chains 24 and 25, samepreferably though not necessarily being placed adjacent the forward endof the chains. Thereafter, the drive means (not shown) for the chains 24and 25, the belt conveyor 36, the disks 40 and 41 and the oscillatingmembers 56 may be started. Further articles 21 may be placed on thechains 24 and 25 at any time. The work station 35 may be activatedeither at this point or as articles 21 appear therebeneath, dependingupon the character of the work station.

The above-mentioned chains 24 and 25, belt conveyor 26, disks 40 and 41and oscillating members 56 are preferably driven from common powersource (not shown) by any convenient means, the belt conveyor 36, disks40 and 41 and the oscillating members 56 preferably being positivelyconnected to such drive source, for example, by means such as a chain orgear drive, as exemplified by the disk drive chain 44, since it isdesired that the aforementioned members operate in synchronism.

Such synchronism will be achieved if the speeds of the severalaforementioned entities are properly related as hereinafter discussed.More particularly then, for a desired number G of articles or grids 21passing beneath the work station 35 per unit time, the lineal speed V,of the conveyor belt 36, and hence of the conventional rotative drivetherefor, may be determined from the following relation:

where H represents the height of the article or grid (considered in itsvertical position as in FIG. 2) and S represents the desired spacingbetween grids on the upper conveyor surface 33.

The rotative speed D of the disks 40 and 41 and hence of the shaft 42 isgiven by the relation:

where N is the number of teeth 46 per disk.

The rotative rate of the cam shaft 79 which actuates the oscillatingmember 56 is merely G, the rate of grid flow per unit time past the workstation 35.

Finally, the speed V of the input chains 24 and 25 is represented by therelationship:

where W is the thickness of the grids or articles 21.

The input chains 24 and 25 may be operated continuously and thus run ata constant speed. in such case, the speed V of the chains 24 and 25typically will be in the range of 2 to 30 percent greater than WG.

Alternatively, the input chains 24 and 25 may be operated intermittentlyby any conventional means, in which case the speed V in the aboverelationship will be an average speed over the plurality of suchperiodic actuations. In the case of intermittent actuation it ispreferred that for grids of .050 inch to .100 inch thickness that thechains be advanced linearly a distance of approximately .300 inch peractuation and that for grids of greater than .100 inch thickness thatthe grids be advanced a maximum of approximately .625 inch linear travelper actuation, the chains being advanced by the abovementioned distancesonce per cycle of the oscillating members 56. The distance of chainadvancement per cycleof the oscillating member 56 will in each case begreater than the individual thickness of the grids. Advancing the chains24 and 25 in such an intermittent manner normally will reduce thetendency of the chains to frictionally wear away the lower edge of theears 22 on the articles 21, which may be of importance where the gridsor plates 21 are of soft materials such as'lead or the like whereas theoperation of the chains continuously particularly at a speedsubstantially greater than required to deliver articles 21 to theoscillating members 26 in a timely manner may tend to excessively wearthe undersides of grids or plates of such soft materials. Whetheroperated continuously or intermittently as above described, the speed ofthe input chains is synchronized with that of the oscillating members 56and so forth by driving same in any conventional and convenient manner.The stack of articles or grids 21 is moved forwardly on and by thechains 24 and 25, the leading several thereof being passed by the chainsonto the support edges, 62 of the oscillating members 56, when thelatter are in their downward position of FIG. 4, and into snug contactwith the abutment edges 64 thereof. The forward movement of the upperreaches of the chains 24 and 25 in accordance with the above-mentionedspeed relationship maintains the articles 21 snugly packed against theabutment surface 64. The shaft 42 and cam shaft 79 are so synchronizedthat the oscillating member 56 will be in its lowermost position shownin FIG. 4 when the portionof the' disk 41 adjacent the upper end of theoscillating member 56 is approximately evenly spaced between teeth 46 onthe disk 41, such teeth being indicated at 46A and 468 for conveniencein reference.

Thereafter, continued rotation of the shafts 42 and 79 causes the tooth468 to rise and causes the oscillating member 56 to pivot in a clockwisedirection, moving the'sup porting, or lifting, edge 62 thereof upwardly'above the upper surface of the chains 24 and 25 and forwardly toward theperiphery of the disk 41. The oscillating member '56 reaches itsupwardmost and forwardmostposition shown in FIG. 8 as the tooth 46Brises to the level thereof. 7

In the position of the elements shown in FIG. 8, several, here eight, ofthe articles 21 are supported on the support edge 62 of the oscillatingmember 56, whereas the remaining articles 21 are spaced rearwardlytherefrom and are not pressed into contact therewith by the chains 24and 25 due to contact thereof with the forwardly sloped upper'portion 60of the oscillating member 56. Thus, the several articles 21 on thesupport edge 62 of the oscillating member 56 are no longer pressedtightly together by the forward movement of the upper reaches of thechains 24 and 25 or by the remaining and rearwardly disposed furtherarticles 21 supported by such chains. Thus, the articles 21 carried onthe support edge 62, although nested closely together, are not urgedtogether'by any large or significant force. Consequently, the'ones ofthe articles 21 supported on the support edge 62 do not tend to sticktogether as they otherwise would and thus may be freely picked up one ata time (or several at a time if the length of the tooth 46B protrudingbeyond the stop face 102 permits). The stop edge 102, in the particularembodiment shown, extends forwardly beyond the portion 118 of theperiphery of the disk 41 sufficiently that the remaining length of theleading edge 47 extending therebeyond is less than the thickness of oneof the articles 21. Thus, the tooth 46B engages only the forwardmost one21A of the articles and does not engage the remaining ones thereof.

As a result, the tooth 468 will pick up, on the tip of its leading edge47, the forwardmost one of the articles 21A as the disk continues torotate in a clockwise direction, leaving the remainder of the articles21 including the article 213 supported by the support edge 62.

During the time that the tooth 46B moves into contact with the article21A and lifts same from the support edge 62, the abutment edge 64 isspaced well forwardly of the stop face 102 and thus does not interferewith the tooth 46B picking up the forwardmost article 21A.

The oscillating member 56 remains in or substantially in its forwardmostposition with the abutment edge 64 located forwardly of the stop face102 at least until the pickup disk has rotated sufficiently, toward itsposition in FIG. 5, to cause the ears 22 of the article 21A to belocated above and clear the abutment edge 64. Once such clearance hasbeen achieved, the oscillating member 56 may begin its counterclockwiseor return pivotal movement toward its starting position abovementionedof FIG. 4.

Asthe forwardmost article 21A is raised from the abutment surface 62 bythe tooth 46B, the ear 22 of such article is supported substantiallyupon the outermost tip of the tooth 46B, partially overhangs the toothand is spaced from the adjacent disk peripheral portion 118. The article21A, as it rises with the tooth 46B toward its position of FIG. 5, iscontacted on its rearward face by the guide roller 117 and as the upperedge of such article moves upwardly past the roller 117, said rollerurges the ear 22 of the article radially inwardly along the leading edge47 of the tooth 468 into contact with the peripheral portion 118 of thedisk so that the article 21A is more securely and reliably supported bythe tooth 46B and is spaced inwardly from the tip of the leading edge47.

A further incremental clockwise rotation of the disks 40 and 41 bringsthe upper edge of the article 21A into contact with the curved portion131 of the leaf spring 127 as indicated in FIG. 5. A continuedincremental rotation of the disk 41 past its position of FIG. 5maintains the upper edge of the article 21A in contact with the leafspring portion 131 thus further preventing any tendency of the article21A to become dislodged from the tooth 46B and also tending to assistthe article 21A in assuming a forwardly sloped rather than strictlyvertical position as the article 21A, during continued rotation of thedisks 40 and 41, reaches its uppermost position shown in FIG. 1.

In the particular embodiment shown, each of the disks 40 and 41 has fourevenly spaced teeth so that as a tooth 46 approaches its uppermostposition as indicated in FIG. 3, the adjacent and following tooth 46will be moving into the position of the tooth 468 shown in FIG. 8 and asabove described, whereby the abovementioned process of picking up afurther article 21 is repeated.

As the article 21 is carried upwardly toward and past its uppermostposition shown in FIG. 3 the trailing edge 52 thereof rides on the guiderods 51 further tending to tip same from a vertical to an angledposition as shown in FIG. 3. Thereafter, continued rotation of the disks40 and 41 causes the article to be deposited upon the output conveyorsurface 33 which transfers same in the direction B indicated in FIG. 1toward and past the work station 35 whereat any convenient workoperation such as a pasting operation in the case of a battery grid maybe carried out.

Although the above discussion has been in terms of a stack of articles21 it will be noted that the articles 21 may be placed upon the conveyorchains 24 and 25 one at a time, said chains causing such an article tomove onto the support edge 62 of the oscillating members 56 intoabutment with the abutment edge 64 thereof for being picked up by thecorresponding teeth of the pickup disks 40 and 41.

MODIFICATIONS It is contemplated that the variety of output sections maybe utilized instead of that shown at 13 in FIG. 1. Examples of suchmodified output sections are illustrated in FIGS. 9 and 10.

In the description of the following modifications, parts identical orsubstantially identical to parts of the apparatus of FIGS. 1 through 8above described will carry the same reference numeral thereas. Parts ofthe apparatus which are generally similar but modified will carry thesame reference numerals with an added letter suffix.

FIG. 9 discloses a modified device 10A which differs from the device 10of FIG. 1 in the output section 13A thereof. The modified output section13A consists of a downwardly and forwardly angled and substantiallyplatelike slide or chute 136 having an upper or rearward portion 137disposed between the disks 40 and 41, the rearward end 138 of the chute136 being spaced close above the upper end of the chain 44 and adjacentand below the ends of the guide rods 51 (shown in FIG. 2). If desired,the forward portion 139 of the chute 136 may be widened to a widthexceeding the spacing of the disks and the width of the articles 21 andprovided with upstanding sidewalls 140 for preventing sideward motion ofthe articles 21 off the chute 136.

Thus, articles carried by the disks 40 and 41 will be deposited therebyon the chute 136.and will slide forwardly and downwardly therealong to adesired location for processing of the like.

Turning now to a further modification, FIGS. 10 and 11 disclose amodified device 108 having a modified output section 13B and a transfersection 12B modified by inclusion of a discharge assist assembly 145arranged for assisting the discharge of articles 21 from the disks 40and 41 and onto the output section 13B.

The output section 138 includes an endless belt conveyor 36B having anupper reach 338 disposed above the shaft 42 supporting the disks 40 and41, the disk 40 being shown in FIG. 10. The rearward or rightward end 47of the belt conveyor 36B is spaced from the shaft 42 by a distancesubstantially equal to the diameter of the disks 40 and 41. If desired,an article holddown device 148 may be provided at each side of therearward or input end of the conveyor 368 for snugly holding incomingarticles against the upper reach 338 thereof, here by means of rollers149.

The discharge assist assembly includes an article support plate 151spaced between the sidewalls 17 and 18 of the frame of the device 108,and supported in fixed relation thereto by a cross bar at the forwardend thereof. The forward or leftward end 152 of the plate 51 overhangsthe rearward end 147 of the conveyor 36B and the rightward or rearwardend 153 of the plate 151 is disposed below the upper or forward end 155of the guide rods 151.

The discharge assist assembly 145 further includes a laterally spacedpair of substantially upstanding discharge rods 157 (FIGS. 10 and 11),disposed on opposite sides of the plate 151, and support and actuatingmeans 158 therefor.

The support and actuating means 158 includes an eccentric or cam 160fixedly mounted on the cam shaft 79 discussed above in connection withFIGS. 4 and 5, the cam 160 preferably being disposed substantiallycentrally on the cam shaft 79. A rocker shaft 162 extends between and ispivotally mounted on the sidewalls 17 and 18 by bearings 163. The rods157 extend through suitable openings in the rocker shaft 162 and arehere longitudinally adjustably anchored thereon by set screws 164. Atension spring 165 extends between a mounting bolt 166 on the sidewall18 and a further bolt 167 fixed to and extending radially and rearwardlyfrom the shaft 162 for resiliently biasing the shaft 162 and rods 157 ina rearward or clockwise direction. A cam follower arm 169 is pivotallymounted adjacent the central portion on the rocker shaft 162 for pivotalmovement with respect thereto. The cam follower arm 169 is held againstaxial movement along the shaft 162 by any convenient means not shown. Aroller 171 is rotatably mounted by a screw 172 adjacent the upper end ofthe cam follower arm 169 in opposition to the periphery of the cam 160and is adapted to bear thereon. A further arm 173 is fixed to the rockershaft 162 by a set screw indicated in broken lines at 174 and isdisposed adjacent the cam follower arm 169, the further arm 173 normallydepending from the shaft 162. The cam follower arm 169 is adapted forpivoting the arm 173 and hence the shaft 162 in response to rotation ofthe cam 160 by a lost motion connection 176.

The lost motion connection 176 comprises a plate 178 secured by a screw180 to an angled portion 179 on the forward face of the cam follower arm169 adjacent the bottom end thereof. The plate 178 laterally overhangsthe further arm 173. A manually adjustable screw 182 threadedly engagesand extends through the overhanging portion of the plate 178, the tip183 of the screw 182 being adapted to abut the forward face 184 of thefurther arm 173. A spring 185 is provided on the screw 182 between theplate 178 and the head thereof for resiliently biasing the screw 182outwardly or fortheir forwardmost position shown in solid lines. Asrotation of the shafts 42 and 79 continues in a clockwise direction, thearticle 21 will be advanced further forwardly with its rearward edgemoving along the upper portion of the guide rods 51 toward the forwardends 155 thereof. Simultaneously, rotation of the cam 160 reduces theradius thereof presented to the roller 171. Thus, the spring 165 pivotsthe rocker shaft 162, discharge rods 157 and arms 173 and 169 in aclockwise direction from their positions shown in FIG. 10. After the camhas rotated through approximately a half circle from its position shownin H0. 10, the discharge rods 157 will reach their rearwardmost limitingposition indicated in broken lines at 157 whereat the upper ends thereofare disposed inwardly of the curve of the guide rods 51 and are spacedsomewhat rearwardly from the support plate 151. I

At approximately the time that the discharge rods 157 reach theirrearwardmost position 157' or slightly thereafter, the article 21 willbe advanced forwardly sufficiently by the disks 40 and 41 that therearward end thereof will drop from the ends 155 of the guide rods 51onto the support plate 151 adjacent the rearward end 153 thereof.Continued rotation of the disks 40 and 41 and of the cam 160 then causesthe radius of the cam 160 presented to the roller 171 to increase,pivoting the cam follower arm 169 in a counterclockwise direction andthrough the lost motion connection 176 correspondingly pivoting thefurther arm 173, shaft 162 and discharge rods 157 for moving the rods157 forwardly into contact with the rearward edge of the article 21.Continued counterclockwise or forward movement of the discharge rodsurges the article 21 forwardlyalong the support plate 151 so that theears 22 thereof move radially outwardly beyond the path of the teeth 46of the disks 40 and 41 while the teeth 46 which previously engaged thearticle 21 are still well spaced above the plate151.

Continued rotation of the disks 40 and 41 and cam 160 returns thedischarge assist assembly 145 and hence the discharge rods 157 to theirforwardmost position shown in solid lines in FIG. 10, whereat theforward end of the article 21 will have been moved off the plate 151 andbetween the pressure rollers 149 and belt 368. Thus, the belt 368frictionally engages the article 21 with sufficient force as to carrysame forwardly with the upper reach 338 thereof.

The above cycle of operation repeats for each article 21 presented tothe discharge rods 157 by the disks 40 and 41.

The above described portion of the device 108 assures that each article21 will be positively disengaged from the disks 40 and 41 andsubstantially positively engaged with the belt'33B. The presentation ofeach article 21 to the belt 33B is thus positively and precisely timedin relation to the rotation of the disks 40 and 41 by the movement ofthe discharge rods 157, which is positively synchronized with therotation of the disks .40 and 41, to precisely maintain a predeterminedspacing between articles 21 on the upper reach 338 of the outputconveyor 36B.

' F108. 12 through 22 disclose a further modified device C correspondingto the device 10 of FIG. 1. Parts of the modified device 10C similar tocorresponding parts of the device 10 will carry the same referencenumerals thereas with suffix C" added thereto. The following discussiondeals with the modified structure which primarily comprises modifiedperipheral edges on the pickup discs in the transfer section 12C,modified guide stop assemblies, one of which is indicated at 88C in thetransfer section 12C and modifications in the output section 13C.

First considering modifications in the transfer section 12C, the pickupdiscs 40C and 41C, are as shown for example as to pickup disc 40C inFIGS. 12 and 16, provided with notches 213 in the periphery thereofimmediately ahead of the leading edges of the teeth 46C. Each such notchlengthens the leading edge 47C of the corresponding tooth 46C to enablemore secure location of the ear 22C of a grid thereon. The notch 213 isof sufficient length to fully receive the ear 22C of a grid withoutbinding.

Further, the number of teeth 46C on the periphery of each disc isdoubled. For a given grid transfer rate, this enables the discs torotate at half the speed of the discs of the embodiment of FIG. 1 andreduces the acceleration of the relatively fragile grids as they aretransferred between the sections 11C, 12C and 13C.

In addition, the guide stop assemblies are modified. As in theembodiment of FIG. 1 a pair of such modified guide stop assemblies areprovided, one on each side of the device 10C, and are preferably mirrorimages of each other. Thus, disclosure of one ,such modified guide stopassembly 88C will suffice for both.

The modified guide stop assembly 88C (FIGS. 13 through 15) comprises anactuating unit 218 and a support unit 219.

The support unit 219 includes a plate 221 carried on the exterior faceof the portion 73C of the machine sidewall adjacent the upper edgethereof and adjacent the rearward edge of the disc 40C. The plate 221 ishorizontally adjustable toward and away from the disc. Moreparticularly, a horizontal slot 224 in the mounting plate 221 slidablyreceives a support pin 226 fixed to the sidewall portion 73C. A block227 is secured to the side plate portion 73 to the rear (left as seen inP16. 13) of the mounting plate 221. A further block 228 is fixed to themounting plate 221 adjacent the rearward edge thereof in spaced opposedrelation to the fixed block 227. An adjustment screw extends forwardlythrough an opening not shown in the block 227 and threadedly engages theblock 228. A manually engageable head 231, including a polygonal (herehexagonal) index portion 213, at the rearward end of the screw abuts therear of the block 227. A leaf spring 233 on the block 227 engages theindex portion 232 for preventing unintended rotation of the screw. Acoil spring 234 is telescoped over the threaded portion of the screw 230between the blocks 227 and 228 for maximizing the spacing therebetweento the extent allowed by the threads and the index portion of the screw230. Thus, the mounting plate 221 is positively but forwardly andrearwardly adjustably mounted on the sidewall portion 73C of themachine.

A stop block 236 overhangs the inboardface of the sidewall portion 73Cand is fixed by a spacer 237 and screws 239 to an upstanding portion 238of the mounting plate 221. The stop block 236, pin 236 and screw 230thus cooperate to secure the plate 221 in a fixed but adjustableposition on sidewall portion 73C. The rearward face of the stop blockis, as seen in H0. 14, spaced forwardly from the orbit of the tip of thedisc tooth 46C substantially by the thickness of the grid ear 22C.

The guide stop assembly 88C further includes an adjustable orificeassembly 243 (FIGS. 13 to 15) for positively moving a grid ear 22Ccarried on the tip of a disc tooth 46C into the adjacent notch 213 topositively locate the grid ear on the disc. The orifice assembly 243comprises an upstanding inner pivot arm 246 spaced outboard of thesidewall portion 73C of the machine and mounted adjacent its lower endby a screw 247 for pivotal movement in a plane parallel to such sidewall portion 73C the screw 247 is threadedly fixed to the mounting plate221 adjacent the lower edge thereof. Spacers 248 on the screw 247determine the transverse separation of the pivot arm 246 and disc 40C. Alimit screw 251 (FIG. 13) threadedly engages the inner pivot arm 246 andextends rearwardly therefrom into abutting contact with the block 228 toprovide an adjustable rearward limit to pivotal movement of the pivotarm 246.

An outer, generally upstanding pivot arm 243 pivotally mounts on theouter face of the inner pivot arm 246 by means of a pin 254. A screw 256extends through a slotted opening 257 in the outer pivot arm, above thepin 254 and threadedly engages the inner pivot arm 246 to fix said armstogether at a desired angle.

Substantially L-shaped, forward and rearward orifice members 261 and262, respectively, (FIG. 14) have substantially parallel andtransversely extending leg portions fixed, as by welding, to the forwardand rearward edges of the inner and outer pivot arms 246 and 253,respectively. The parallel legs of the orifice members 261 and 262extend inboard and terminate above the machine side wall portion 73C andstop block 236 in preferably coplanar orifice defining elements 264 and265, respectively, which extend respectively rearwardly and forwardlytoward each other for defining a substantially vertical gap or orifice26 6. The orifice is adapted to receive the ear 22C of a grid 21C asseen in FIGS. 14, 17 and 18. The orifice defining edge of the forwardelement 264 is preferably rounded at its upper corner, as indicated at267, to prevent interference with a grid ear 22C moving upwardly out ofthe orifice 266. The bottom edge of the forward orifice element 264 isclose spaced above the stop block 236 while the corresponding lower edgeof the rearward orifice element 265 is spaced thereabove to provideadequate clearance for further grid ears 22C on the oscillating member56C.

The legs of the orifice members 261 and 262 extend outboard of the arms246 and 253 and are jointed by an adjustment screw 268 (FIG. 14) whichupon rotation, after loosening of the screw 2S6, relatively pivots thearms 246 and 253 to set the separation of the L- shaped orifice membersand thereby the width of the orifice 266. A spring 269 telescoped overthe screw 258 resiliently urges the L-shaped orifice members 261 and 262apart to the extent allowed by the adjustment of said screw 268.

An upward extension 271 (FIG. 13) of the inner pivot arm 246 connectsthrough a linkage system 272 to the actuating unit 218. In theparticular embodiment shown, the linkage system 272 comprises a link 273secured by a screw 270 to the arm extension 271 for pivotal movement ina vertical plane, and a further link 275 pivotally connected by a screw276 to the free end of the link 273 and extending rearwardly therefrom.

The actuating unit 218 includes an upstanding, here substantiallyT-shaped, mounting plate 279 fixed to the side wall portion 73C to therear of the support unit 219. The T-shaped plate 279 carries suitablemotive power means for shifting, through the linkage system 272, theorifice assembly 243 forwardly and rearwardly with respect to, and insynchronism with rotation of, the toothed discs. Although use of motivepower means of a variety of types, including pressure fluid cylinders,is contemplated, the disclosed embodiment employs an interlinked pair ofsolenoids indicated in broken lines at 281 and 282 in FIG. 13. Thesolenoid 281 is rearwardly actuable and the solenoid 282 is forwardlyactuable. A link indicated in broken lines at 283 interconnects thearmatures of the solenoids 281 and 282 and the armature 284 of solenoid282 pivotally connects to the rearward end of the link 275.

The solenoids 281 and 282 are actuated through conventional electricalconductors, schematically indicated by the broken line 286, from aswitch 287 (FIG. 12) fixed on the side of the machine. The switch 287 issimilarly connected to the corresponding actuating unit, not shown, onthe other side of the machine, which serves disc 41C (FIG. 19). A shaft291 rotatable in synchronism with the disc shaft 42C carries a switchactuator cam 292 for actuating switch 287 in a manner to cause thesolenoids 281 and 282 to move the adjustable orifice assembly forwardlyand rearwardly in synchronism with rotation of the disc 40C ashereinafter discussed.

The shaft 291, which may be the master drive shaft for various gridtransferring components in the machine, e.g., the oscillating members,discs, and input and output section mechanism is connected through anyconvenient mechanical means generally indicated by broken line 290 (FIG.12) to the shaft 42C supporting the discs. In the particular embodimentshown, wherein there are eight teeth 46C per disc, the shaft 42C turnsat one eighth the speed of shaft 291 so that the cam 292 actuates anddeactuates the switch 287 once as each succeeding tooth moves past theinput portion 11C.

The modified output section 13C includes a modified output conveyorassembly 36C.

The conveyor assembly 36C includes a transversely spaced outer pair ofendless conveyor chains 296 and 297 (FIG. 19) and an inner pair ofendless conveyor chains 301 and 302, the chains of the inner and outerpairs being preferably symmetrically spaced on opposite sides of thecenter line of grid travel along the output section 13C. The chains 296,297, 301 and 302 have upper and lower reaches, the upper reachespreferably being horizontal and extending forwardly from a point withinthe orbit of the teeth 46C of the discs, for movement forwardly awayfrom the discs. Such conveyor chains are supported by forward andrearward sprocket sets 305 and 306 mounted on forward and rearward,transversely extending shafts 307 and 308. The shafts 307 and 308 are,in the particular embodiment shown, supported for rotation byupstanding, longitudinally extending walls 311 and 312, the wall 311being located between chains 296 and 301 and the wall 312 being locatedbetween the chains 302 and 297, such walls being fixed by any convenientmeans not shown with respect to the frame structure of the machine. Thediscs 40C and 41C are respectively disposed between the machine sidewall17C and outboard chain 296 and between the machine wall 18C and outboardchain 297.

Guide rods 51C extend from a position rearward of the disc axisforwardly along between and substantially in coplanar relation with theupper reaches of the chains 296, 297, 301 and 302.

The outboard chains 296, and 297 are provided with upstanding,transversely aligned lugs 314. The spacing of thelugs 314 along eachsuch chain exceeds by a desired amount the length L (FIG. 19) of thegrids 21C. The lugs 314 are adapted to abut the ears 22C of an adjacentgrid 21C and move such grid forwardly with the advancing upper reachesof such chains,

Similarly, the inboard chains 301 and 302 are provided with upstanding,transversely aligned lugs 315 spaced longitudinally therealong. The lugs315 are spaced inboard of the grid ears and are adapted to engage therearward, trailing edge of a grid 21C to move same forwardly after suchgrid has reached the forward end of the chain conveyor and the'ears 22Chave been disengaged by the outboard lugs 314. The inboard lugs 315 arenormally spaced behind the grid 21C and abuts same after the outboardlugs 314 have ceased to move the grid forwardly. I

A suitable holddown unit 316 preferably overlies the path of the gridsalong the output section 13C to preclude any tendency for grids to jumpout of engagement with the lugs 314. I

In theparticular embodiment shown in FIGS. 12 and 19, anadditionaloutput device is provided at the forward end of the' output conveyor 36Cand here comprises a vertically spaced pair of pinch roller shafts 318and 319 supported for rotation by any convenient means not shown on theframe of the machine, for example on the walls 17C and 18C. Resilientpinch rollers 320 on the shafts 318 and 319 grip therebetween successivegrids 21Cmov'ed off the conveyor 36C by the inboard lugs 315, as forstacking same, advancing same onto a further. conveyor, not shown ormoving same in any desired way toward a pasting station or the like.

- One of the chain conveyor shafts 306 and 307 (and where pinch rollersare provided one of the pinch rollers shafts 318 and 319) is rotatablydriven in synchronism with thediscs 40C and 4lC'by any conventionalpositive drive means, schematically indicated in FIG. 12 by the brokenlines 322 (and 323). Synchronism of drive is such that the conveyorchains and pinch rollers forwardgrids at the same rate that grids arepresented thereto by the discs 40C and 41C.

Although theoperation of the modified device C of FlGS. 12 through 22has been indicated above, same I will now be summarized to insure aclear understanding thereof.

In setting up the device 10C preparatory to a grid feeding operation,the width of the orifice 266 is first adjusted to be-slightly greaterthan the thickness of the grid ears 22C to be received therein. Such isaccomplished by loosening of screw 256 and adjustment of screw 268 tovary the relative angular orientation of arms 246 and 253 and therebythe spacing of orifice defining elements 264 and 265. The screw 256 isthen tightened to rigidly fix the orifice width.

Adjustment of the screw 231 locates the mounting plate 221 and hence therearward end of stop block 236 with respect to the adjacent orbit of thetip of the disc teeth 46C, the rearward end of stop block 236 preferablybeing located such that a grid ear 22C positioned thereagainst will bein the path of the tip portion of an advancing tooth 46C.

Adjustment of screw 251 determines the rear limiting position of theorifice 266 by limiting rearward pivotal movement of arm 256 on screw247. As shown in FIG. 14, the orifice 266, when in its rear position,has its forward side in alignment with the rearward face of the stopblock 236. The orifice 266 is thus substantially vertical and is alignedwith the path which will be followed by the ear 22C of a grid as same israised by the tooth 46C of the disc from the pivot member 56C.

Since similar apparatus is provided on each side of the device 10C forcoacting in the same way with the two oppositely extending ears 22C of agiven grid, the following discussion ofoperation will for convenience inreference deal only with one side of the machine, but will be understoodto apply to both sides of the machine.

Given the adjustments discussed above, the device 10C is energized and aseries of grids 21C are placed on the conveyor chains of the inputsection 11C. The ears 22C are carried forwardly by such chains, asdiscussed above with respect to the device 10, onto the upper edge ofthe oscillating members, e.g., member 56C and into abutting relationwith the abutment edge 64C thereof to achieve the condition shown inFIG. 16. At this point, the adjacent orifice 266 is in its rearwardposition and a tooth 46C of the adjacent disc 40C is moving upwardlytoward the level of stop block 236.

The oscillating member 56C then rocks forwardly, as described withrespect to the device 10, to bring the ear 22C of the forwardmost gridinto abutment with the stop block 236. The tip of the upwardly movingdisc tooth 46C then picks up the ear 22C moving same upwardly along therearward edge of orifice element 264, out of contact with the stop block236 and then into gap 266, as indicated in FIG. 17.

After the ear 22C has cleared the stop block 236 and is positioned atleast partially in the gap 266, the orifice 266 is shifted forwardlypositively shifting the ear 22C from the tip of the tooth 46C to theroot thereof and, more particularly, into the notch 213. The forwardshifting of the orifice 266 is accomplished, in the particularembodiment shown, by rotation of the cam 292 out of contact with limitswitch 287 (FIG. 12) which through suitable wiring 286 de-energizesnormally energized solenoid 281 and energizes forward solenoid 282,thereby shifting linkage 272 forwardly and pivoting arms 246 and 253forwardly, the forward motion of such arms carrying forwardly the gap266.

A subsequent return of the cam 292 into contact with the switch 287reverses energization of the solenoids 281 and 282 and returns theorifice 266 to its rearward position, in preparation for receiving theear of the next grid.

It will be noted that, in the above sequence, the grid ear 22C ispositively located, in the forward-rearward direction, from the time itcontacts the stop block 236. More particularly, as the tooth tip liftsthe forwardmost grid ear 22C from the oscillating member 56C, forwardmovement of such ear is prevented first by the rear face of stop block236 and then by such face assisted by the rear face of orifice element264. Rearward movement of such grid ear is prevented by the further gridears disposed rearwardly thereof and then by suchfurther grid ears andthe forward face of orifice element 265. At that point, such ear 22Clies within the orifice 266.

Such ear looses contact with the stop block and following grid ears onlyafter it is positively between the orifice elements 264 and 265. Thus,the grid ear 22C is positively located on the tip of the tooth until theorifice 266 is shifted forwardly to position grid ear 22C within notch213, as in FIG. 18. Thus, the grid ear cannot drop off the tip of thetooth. On the other hand, proper positioning of the stop block 236positively precludes that more than one grid will be picked up by anupwardly advancing tooth 46C.

The above sequence is repeated as succeeding teeth 46C move past theinput portion 11C of the machine.

As the disc 40C continues to rotate, the grid 21C above described movesupwardly out of the orifice 266 and is carried upwardly, forwardly anddownwardly toward the output portion 13C, the sequence of positions thusassumed by the grid being indicated in broken lines in FIG. 12. It willbe noted that during the course of such movement the trailing or bottomedge of the grid 21C engages the guide rods 51C and slides forwardlytherealong, the grid thus shifting from a substantially verticalposition to a substantially horizontal position as it is movedforwardly. At some point during this movement, the ear 22C of the gridwill slide forwardly and downwardly along the notch 213 in response tothe force of gravity until it lies against the end of the notch remotefrom the tooth 46C and it is in such condition that the grid 21Capproaches the chain conveyors of the output section 13C, as shown inFIG. 20.

Due to the synchronism in the rotational drive of the pickup discs 40Cand 41C and the output conveyor chains 296, 297, 311 and 312, the gridears 22C approach the top of the output chain conveyors just to the rearof one set of inboard lugs 315 and just forward of another pair ofoutput lugs 314. As seen in FIG. 21, the forwardly moving lug 314engages the adjacent ear 22C just as, or immediately before, such ear isdeposited on the upper reach of the chains. The lug 314 then moves thegrid ear 22C forwardly out of the notch 213 and then out from under thedownwardly advancing tooth 46C, as seen in FIG. 22, so as to avoid anypossibility of the grid car being contacted or damaged by the downwardlyadvancing tooth 46C. I

At the same time it will be noted that the grid ear 22C as it isadvanced downwardly toward the output conveyors is positively restrainedagainst sliding downwardly along the periphery of the disc 40C and awayfrom the tooth 46C in an uncontrolled or random manner by contact withthe leading edge of the notch 213. Thus, the time in which the grid 21Cdrops upon the output conveyor is a fixed and predetermined point in therotation of the disc 40C, as is the point in time at which the lug 314moves the grid forwardly along the output portion 13C of the apparatus.1n this manner, the spacing of grids 21C, as they move along the outputsection 13C, is positively fixed and random variations in spacing of thegrids are precluded.

As a given grid 21C is moved along the output conveyors toward the pinchrollers 320, the lugs 314 engaging the ears 22C eventually moveforwardly past the shaft 307 and then downwardly about the radius of thesprockets 305. Thus, the grid is no longer driven forwardly by theoutboard lugs 314. However, at a fixed, short time thereafter, theinboard lugs 315 move forwardly into engagement with the rear ortrailing edge of the forwardmost grid and impel same into the pinchrollers 320. Although the device 10 of FIG. 1 has been found to worksatisfactorily over a wide range of normal operating speeds, themodified device 10C was particularly developed not only to provide formore positive location of a grid as it is cycled through the sections11C, 12C and 13C but also to provide reliable grid pickup by the discsat very high operating speeds. Reliable operation at such high operatingspeeds is assisted by positive location of each successive grid on thepickup discs through use of the movable orifice and by the reduced speedof the discs allowed by the increase in the number of teeth thereon. Thelatter reduces accelerative and decelerative loading on the grid ears asthey are shifted between the portions 11C, 12C and 13C and reduces thepossibility of grid damage.

Although a particular preferred embodiment of the invention has beendisclosed in detail for illustrative purposes, it will be recognizedthat variations or modifications of the disclosed apparatus, includingthe rearrangement of parts, lie within the scope of the presentinvention.

What is claimed is: 1. A device for feeding articles, comprising: inputconveyor means for feeding articles in stacked relation; pickup meansmovable in a path past the input conveyor means for moving articles awayfrom the stack; guide means near said input conveyor means forselectively receiving articles of said stack and movable across saidpath for causing said pickup means to positively and reliably receivesaid articles at an inboard portion thereof; wherein the input conveyormeans comprises an endless input conveyor having a substantiallyhorizontal upper reach for supporting a plurality of articles and meansfor moving the upper reach at the first speed direction, the pickupmeans comprises a shaft for rotatably supporting a disc, the shaft beingvertically located adjacent the plane of the upper reach of the inputconveyor, the orbit of teeth on said disc being located near the forwardend of the upper conveyor reach, an oscillating member and said discbeing disposed in parallel but spaced planes, the oscillating member andinput conveyor means defining parallel but spaced planes, theoscillating member further including means engageable therewith foroscillating the oscillating member between the first and second limitingpositions.

2. A device for feeding articles, comprising:

input conveyor means for feeding articles in stacked relation;

pickup means movable in a path past the input conveyor means for movingarticles away from the stack;

guide means near said input conveyor means for selectively receivingarticles of said stack and movable across said path for causing saidpickup means to positively and reliably receive said articles at aninboard portion thereof;

an output conveyor, the output conveyor being located on the oppositeside of the pickup means from the input conveyor means and guide means,the pickup means comprising a peripherally toothed rotating discadapting to remove an article from the oscillating means and place sameon the output conveyor, the output conveyor being of the endless typeand having a plurality of upstanding lugs thereon for engaging articlesdelivered thereto by the disc and moving same away from the disc.

3. A device as defined in claim 2 including means for synchronizingforward movement of the lugs on the output conveyor with rotation of thedisc teeth in such manner that as an article is being deposited on theoutput conveyor it is engaged by a. lug thereof and moved out of thepath of the advancing tooth of the disc which previously supported thearticle on the disc.

4. A device as defined in claim 3 wherein each tooth on the disc has itsleading edge in part defined by a notch in the periphery of the disc,the portion of the articles engaged by the disc being laterallyextending ears, such ears lying in the trailing end of the notch andagainst the leading edge of the tooth as the article is moved from theoscillating means and shifting along the notch to rest upon the leadingedge thereof as the article nears the output conveyor, the article earbeing positively prevented from advancing along the periphery of thedisc by the leading edge of the notch until deposited on the outputconveyor and engaged by a lug thereof so as to maintain a constant andpreselected spacing between articles on the output conveyor. 7

5. A device as defined in claim 3 wherein the output conveyor comprisesfirst and second endless conveyors each having upstanding lugs fixedthereto, the lug on the first conveyor leading a lug on the secondconveyor by a distance exceeding the forward-rearward spacing ofportions of the article engageable by the first conveyor lug and secondconveyor lug, the first conveyor lug moving an article away from thepickup means in a forward direction and disengaging the article at theforward end of the first conveyor, the second conveyor lug engaging thearticle there-after and shifting the article off the output conveyormeans, output means being provided for receiving the article from theoutput conveyor. I

6. A,device as defined in claim including a guide element adapted forsupporting and trailing the edge of the article in the main portion ofits travel on the pickup means and as it is deposited on the outputconveyor andfurther including holddown means above the output conveyorfor preventing movement of the articles off therefrom.

7. A device for feeding articles, comprising:

input conveyor means for feeding articles in stacked relation; I

pickup means movable in a path past the input conveyor means for movingarticles away from the stack;

guide means near said input conveyor means for selectively receivingarticles of said stack and movable across said path for causing saidpickup means to positively and reliably receive said articles at aninboard portion thereof, the guide means including an orifice memberengageable with said articles and actuating means for shifting theorifice member toward said path to firmly locate said articles onsaid'inboard portion of said pickup means, in which the pickup meansincludes a tooth upon which said article can be supported for movementalong said path, said tooth being movable along said path, and meanslimiting the travel of said orifice member for causing said orificemember to positively locate said article at the root of said tooth andinboard of the tooth tip.

8. A device as defined in claim 7 in which the pickup means includesteeth and the actuating means includes plural means for moving theorifice member back and forth in synchronism with presentation ofsuccessive teeth of the pickup means moving along said path therepast.

9. A device for feeding articles, comprising:

input conveyor means for feeding articles in stacked relation;

pickup means movable in a path past the input conveyor means for movingarticles away from the stack;

guide means near said input conveyor means for selectively receivingarticles of said stack and movable across said path for causing saidpickup means to positivley and reliably receive said articles at aninboard portion thereof, the guide means including an orifice memberengageable with said articles and actuating means for shifting theorifice member toward said path to firmly locate said articles on saidinboard portion of said pickup means, said orifice member comprisingmeans defining a slot into which an article is moved, said meansdefining said slot being spaced to positively prevent more than aselected number of articles at a time from being moved into such slot.

10. A device as defined in claim 9 in which said pickup means comprisesa rotatable disc and a tooth fixed on the periphery of said disc, saidslot being substantially tangential to the path described by said toothas said disc rotates and being movable with said orifice member into onelimiting position in the path of the root of said tooth and beingmovable to a further limiting position substantially remote from saiddisc, whereby rotation of said disc and tooth past said orifice memberenables the latter to position an article located in said slot at saidroot of said tooth, continued rotation of said disc causing said toothto carry said article out of said slot and away from the orifice memberand input conveyor means.

1 '11. A device as defined in claim 9 in which said slot is sizedtoreceive only one article at a time and including means for liftingsaid article into said slot.

12. A device for feeding articles, comprising: input conveyor means forfeeding articles in stacked relation;

pickup' means movable in a path past the input conveyor means for movingarticles away from the stack;

guide means near said input conveyor means for selectively receivingarticles of said stack and movable across said path for causing saidpickup means to positively and reliably receive said articles at aninboard portion thereof;

oscillating means for shifting articles from the input conveyor meansinto adjacency with said guide means.

13. A device as defined in claim 12 wherein the pickup means comprises atooth on the periphery of a rotatable disc, and including meanssupporting the disc for rotation in fixed location for causing the toothto follow a circular orbit past a limiting position of the oscillatingmeans, the means for moving the oscillating member comprising arotatable shaft having an eccen-

1. A device for feeding articles, comprising: input conveyor means forfeeding articles in stacked relation; pickup means movable in a pathpast the input conveyor means for moving articles away from the stack;guide means near said input conveyor means for selectively receivingarticles of said stack and movable across said path for causing saidpickup means to positively and reliably receive said articles at aninboard portion thereof; wherein the input conveyor means comprises anendless input conveyor having a substantially horizontal upper reach forsupporting a plurality of articles and means for moving the upper reachat the first speed direction, the pickup means comprises a shaft forrotatably supporting a disc, the shaft being vertically located adjacentthe plane of the upper reach of the input conveyor, the orbit of teethon said disc being located near the forward end of the upper conveyorreach, an oscillating member and said disc being disposed in parallelbut spaced planes, the oscillating member and input conveyor meansdefining parallel but spaced planes, the oscillating member furtherincluding means engageable therewith for oscillating the oscillatingmember between the first and second limiting positions.
 2. A device forfeeding articles, comprising: input conveyor means for feeding articlesin stacked relatioN; pickup means movable in a path past the inputconveyor means for moving articles away from the stack; guide means nearsaid input conveyor means for selectively receiving articles of saidstack and movable across said path for causing said pickup means topositively and reliably receive said articles at an inboard portionthereof; an output conveyor, the output conveyor being located on theopposite side of the pickup means from the input conveyor means andguide means, the pickup means comprising a peripherally toothed rotatingdisc adapting to remove an article from the oscillating means and placesame on the output conveyor, the output conveyor being of the endlesstype and having a plurality of upstanding lugs thereon for engagingarticles delivered thereto by the disc and moving same away from thedisc.
 3. A device as defined in claim 2 including means forsynchronizing forward movement of the lugs on the output conveyor withrotation of the disc teeth in such manner that as an article is beingdeposited on the output conveyor it is engaged by a lug thereof andmoved out of the path of the advancing tooth of the disc whichpreviously supported the article on the disc.
 4. A device as defined inclaim 3 wherein each tooth on the disc has its leading edge in partdefined by a notch in the periphery of the disc, the portion of thearticles engaged by the disc being laterally extending ears, such earslying in the trailing end of the notch and against the leading edge ofthe tooth as the article is moved from the oscillating means andshifting along the notch to rest upon the leading edge thereof as thearticle nears the output conveyor, the article ear being positivelyprevented from advancing along the periphery of the disc by the leadingedge of the notch until deposited on the output conveyor and engaged bya lug thereof so as to maintain a constant and preselected spacingbetween articles on the output conveyor.
 5. A device as defined in claim3 wherein the output conveyor comprises first and second endlessconveyors each having upstanding lugs fixed thereto, the lug on thefirst conveyor leading a lug on the second conveyor by a distanceexceeding the forward-rearward spacing of portions of the articleengageable by the first conveyor lug and second conveyor lug, the firstconveyor lug moving an article away from the pickup means in a forwarddirection and disengaging the article at the forward end of the firstconveyor, the second conveyor lug engaging the article there-after andshifting the article off the output conveyor means, output means beingprovided for receiving the article from the output conveyor.
 6. A deviceas defined in claim 5 including a guide element adapted for supportingand trailing the edge of the article in the main portion of its travelon the pickup means and as it is deposited on the output conveyor andfurther including holddown means above the output conveyor forpreventing movement of the articles off therefrom.
 7. A device forfeeding articles, comprising: input conveyor means for feeding articlesin stacked relation; pickup means movable in a path past the inputconveyor means for moving articles away from the stack; guide means nearsaid input conveyor means for selectively receiving articles of saidstack and movable across said path for causing said pickup means topositively and reliably receive said articles at an inboard portionthereof, the guide means including an orifice member engageable withsaid articles and actuating means for shifting the orifice member towardsaid path to firmly locate said articles on said inboard portion of saidpickup means, in which the pickup means includes a tooth upon which saidarticle can be supported for movement along said path, said tooth beingmovable along said path, and means limiting the travel of said orificemember for causing said orifice member to positively locate said articleat the root of said tooth and inboard of the tooth tip.
 8. A devicE asdefined in claim 7 in which the pickup means includes teeth and theactuating means includes plural means for moving the orifice member backand forth in synchronism with presentation of successive teeth of thepickup means moving along said path therepast.
 9. A device for feedingarticles, comprising: input conveyor means for feeding articles instacked relation; pickup means movable in a path past the input conveyormeans for moving articles away from the stack; guide means near saidinput conveyor means for selectively receiving articles of said stackand movable across said path for causing said pickup means to positivleyand reliably receive said articles at an inboard portion thereof, theguide means including an orifice member engageable with said articlesand actuating means for shifting the orifice member toward said path tofirmly locate said articles on said inboard portion of said pickupmeans, said orifice member comprising means defining a slot into whichan article is moved, said means defining said slot being spaced topositively prevent more than a selected number of articles at a timefrom being moved into such slot.
 10. A device as defined in claim 9 inwhich said pickup means comprises a rotatable disc and a tooth fixed onthe periphery of said disc, said slot being substantially tangential tothe path described by said tooth as said disc rotates and being movablewith said orifice member into one limiting position in the path of theroot of said tooth and being movable to a further limiting positionsubstantially remote from said disc, whereby rotation of said disc andtooth past said orifice member enables the latter to position an articlelocated in said slot at said root of said tooth, continued rotation ofsaid disc causing said tooth to carry said article out of said slot andaway from the orifice member and input conveyor means.
 11. A device asdefined in claim 9 in which said slot is sized to receive only onearticle at a time and including means for lifting said article into saidslot.
 12. A device for feeding articles, comprising: input conveyormeans for feeding articles in stacked relation; pickup means movable ina path past the input conveyor means for moving articles away from thestack; guide means near said input conveyor means for selectivelyreceiving articles of said stack and movable across said path forcausing said pickup means to positively and reliably receive saidarticles at an inboard portion thereof; oscillating means for shiftingarticles from the input conveyor means into adjacency with said guidemeans.
 13. A device as defined in claim 12 wherein the pickup meanscomprises a tooth on the periphery of a rotatable disc, and includingmeans supporting the disc for rotation in fixed location for causing thetooth to follow a circular orbit past a limiting position of theoscillating means, the means for moving the oscillating membercomprising a rotatable shaft having an eccentric and means on theoscillating member for engaging the eccentric whereby rotation of theeccentric causes pivotal oscillation of the oscillating member, andincluding means synchronizing the rotation of the disc and the eccentricin a manner that the disc rotates one tooth past the input means peroscillations of the oscillating member.
 14. A device as defined in claim12 wherein the pickup means comprises a rotatable disc having a radiallyoutwardly extending tooth on the periphery thereof and a notch in theperiphery at the leading edge of the tooth, whereby articles may bepicked up from the oscillating means by the tip of the tooth andthereafter shifted along the leading edge of the tooth into the notchfor preventing accidental dislodgement of the article from the toothwhile causing the tooth to pick up only one article at a time from theoscillating means.
 15. A device as defined in claim 12 in which saidguide means disposed adjacent the pickup means and the oscillating meansfor assiSting the pickup means in removing an article from theoscillating means, the guide means including an orifice for receiving aportion of the article as such article leaves the oscillating means, thearticle being removed from the oscillating means by the tip of a toothon the pickup means, the orifice comprising a slot substantiallyalignable with the path of the tooth tip, mounting means allowingmovement of the orifice toward the pickup means for urging an article inthe orifice along the leading edge of the tooth away from the tipthereof and toward the root thereof to insure secure carrying of thearticle by the pickup means and motor means for shifting the orificetoward and away from the pickup means in synchronism with engagement ofsuccessively presented teeth of the pickup means with successivearticles on the oscillating means.
 16. A device as defined in claim 15,wherein the orifice is defined by a pair of spaced elements supportedfor forward rearward reciprocation along the line of travel of articleson the input conveyor means and above the path of the oscillating meansand adjacent the rearward edge of the pickup means, the pickup meanscomprising a peripherally toothed disc, a tooth of the disc having itsleading edge at least partially defined by a notch in the disc sized forreceiving a portion of the article, the spaced orifice defining elementsbeing shiftable between rearward and forward positions, the rearwardposition corresponding to the path of the article as it is moved by thetip of the tooth off the oscillating means, the forward positioncorresponding to the location of the article when seated in the notch,means for moving the orifice defining elements in synchronism ofrotation of the disc so that the orifice is located in the rearwardposition for receiving the article and after the article is locatedwithin the orifice shifting to the forward position for seating thearticle firmly in the notch.
 17. A device as defined in claim 16including means supporting the orifice defining elements and a stopblock carried by such means, the stop block being located forwardly ofthe path of the tip of the tooth by a distance corresponding to thethickness of the article for preventing forward movement of the articletherebeyond prior to engagement thereof by the tip of the tooth on thedisc, the forward one of the orifice defining elements being locatedclosely adjacent and above the stop block, the forward edge of theorifice being located in alignment with the rearward face of the stopblock when the orifice is in its rear position, the orifice shifting toits forward position only after the article has been moved upwardly pastthe stop block by the tooth.
 18. A device as defined in claim 12 whereinthe guide means includes a mounting plate positioned adjacent the inputconveyor means and oscillating means and arranged for adjustment alongthe path of articles moving on the input conveyor means, a firstupstanding arm pivoted on the mounting plate for movement toward andaway from the pickup means, a second upstanding arm adjustably pivotedon the first arm to enable variation of the angle between the first andsecond arms, means for limiting rearward movement of the first arm awayfrom the pickup means, first and second substantially L-shaped orificemembers respectively carried by the first and second pivot arms andextending transversely therefrom and toward the path of teeth on themovable pickup means, the free ends of the L-shaped members definingsubstantially coplanar elements spaced for defining an orifice, alinkage system connected to one of the arms, the arms being pivotallyoscillated in synchronism with movement of teeth on the pickup meanstoward the orifice in such manner that the orifice is in a rearwardposition as such a tooth raises an article upwardly thereinto andthereafter is shifted to a forward position for urging the articleinwardly along the tooth toward the root thereof.
 19. A device asdefined in claim 12 in whiCh said input conveyor means, pickup means,and guide means each comprise a laterally spaced pair of members, saidoscillating means including a laterally spaced pair of oscillatingmembers, the spacing of the members of each pair being less than thewidth of the articles so that each article is suspended betweensuccessive pairs in a selected sequence.
 20. A device as defined inclaim 12 in which said oscillating means includes a lifting surfacewhich lifts at least one leading article away from the stack on saidinput conveyor means.
 21. A device as defined in claim 20 in which saidpickup means includes a tooth movable along said path for lifting anarticle from said lifting surface of said oscillating means andtransferring said article toward an output mechanism while tilting saidarticle, said guide means including an orifice member for moving thearticle to a location at the root of said tooth and away from the tipthereof, movement of said tooth along said path lifting said articlethrough and away from said orifice member.
 22. A device as defined inclaim 20 in which said lifting surface has a first limiting positionsubstantially level with said input conveyor means and enabling saidinput conveyor means to slide at least one article onto said gridlifting surface and including means for shifting said oscillating meansso that said lifting surface locates in a second limiting positionadjacent said guide means and inaccesible from the input conveyor meansfor locating said leading article adjacent said guide means whileseparating same from said stack.
 23. A device as defined in claim 22 inwhich said second limiting position of said lifting surface locates saidleading article in the path of the tip of said tooth of said pickupmeans whereby the tooth tip tends to pick up only the leading articlefrom said lifting surface, in which said guide means in one position ofmovement lies in the path of said tooth tip and includes a slot alignedwith said tooth tip path whereby the leading article is carried by thetooth tip from said lifting surface and into said slot, said guide meansincluding means defining said slot and positively interfering withmovement of articles other than said leading article of said liftingsurface and into said slot.
 24. A device as defined in claim 11 in whichsaid articles are substantially platelike battery elements.
 25. A deviceas defined in claim 12 wherein the oscillating means has a support leg,a drive leg and pivot means for pivotally supporting said oscillatingmeans, said drive leg extending substantially horizontally and saidsupport leg extending substantially vertically, an article support edgeatop said support leg and substantially paralleling said drive leg, andincluding a stop adjacent the support surface and facing articles onsuch support edge, said oscillating means being movable past said stop,said stop being engageable by articles on said support edge, said pickupmeans comprising a movable member having a tooth movable substantiallyupwardly past said stop and oscillating means, said tooth having aleading edge which partially overlaps said stop by less than half thethickness of one of said articles, said guide means being disposed abovesaid support edge and having first and second slot defining membersadapted for receiving therebetween an article raised by said tooth fromsaid support edge and including means for causing said slot definingmembers to shift an article along the leading edge of the tooth awayfrom the free tooth end and into firmly supported engagement with theperimeter of the movable member.
 26. A device for feeding articles,comprising: input conveyor means for feeding articles in stackedrelation; pickup means movable in a path past the input conveyor meansfor moving articles away from the stack; guide means near said inputconveyor means for selectively receiving articles of said stack andmovable across said path for causing said pickup means to positively andReliably receive said articles at an inboard portion thereof; fixed stopmeans near said pickup means for positively stopping advancing movementof articles toward said path at a point at least near said path, saidguide means having a first limiting position in alignment with saidfixed stop means to enable articles to be shifted from abutment withsaid fixed stop means into engagement with said guide means.
 27. Adevice as defined in claim 26 in which said guide means has a secondlimiting position in alignment with said path, said pickup meansincluding a tooth of length exceeding the thickness of the article, saidguide means including actuating means for causing same to shift anarticle from a location adjacent the path of the tip of said tooth to alocation on the path on the root of said tooth, so as to insure reliableengagement of the article by the pickup means and thereby transferringof the article by the tooth.